Following the Prime Minister’s speech on the UK’s net zero commitments, Jeff House, External Affairs & Policy Director at Baxi welcomes the announcement of a new Boiler Upgrade Scheme but cautions more skills are needed. Baxi welcomes the UK government’s commitment to improving the Boiler Upgrade Scheme by increasing the total grant to £7,500. As…
decarbonisation
ISS is accelerating its progress towards full-scope net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 by implementing enterprise climate platform, Watershed’s carbon accounting solution across its global operations. All ISS country teams across ISS’s more than 30 markets will be empowered with the capability to measure and manage their own carbon footprint, thereby quantifying the impacts…
Kimberly-Clark is celebrating the official opening of a new onshore wind farm by Màiri McAllan, Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Clydesdale constituency and Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition. Designed to meet approximately 80 per cent of the company’s power needs in the UK, the £75 million project was…
Wates is accelerating plans to decarbonise its commercial van fleet with a major investment to replace 45 small diesel supervisor vans with new electric cars. The electric cars will be used across the Group’s UK-wide fit-out, refurbishment and maintenance services for social housing properties and non-domestic buildings. Forming part of a long-term plan to electrify…
Award-winning Swedish heat pump company Qvantum has added a Netherlands location to the UK and Germany and appointed a managing director at its new subsidiary. Mark Vellinga joins as the CEO of Qvantum Energietechnologie B.V., bringing an extensive background that includes serving as the commercial director of one of the leading heat pump companies in…
Baxi’s parent company BDR Thermea Group is acquiring a 25 per cent stake in G.I. Holding, a market leader in renewable energy-powered commercial and industrial climate solutions. Headquartered in Latisana, Italy, G.I. Holding manufactures and markets a range of heat pumps, liquid chillers, air handling units, rooftop-packaged units and fan coil units under the brand…
Daikin Europe has added Altherma 3 R MT, a mid-temperature refrigerant split heat pump replacement for fossil fuel boilers, to its Altherma 3 range. The company says the new product will replace its existing Daikin Altherma HT which when launched in 2008 was the first high-temperature heat pump that allowed full replacement of a fossil…
On 12 September Veolia is hosting a new event to raise awareness of ecological challenges including decarbonisation, depollution and the optimisation of the earth’s resources. The one-day free-to-attend conference, called VEO23, will cover how the natural ecosystems of people, planet, and society are interconnected, and the practical solutions that can balance human progress and counter…
Mitie has worked with Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), the UK’s largest financial services organisation, to decarbonise the heating of its Trinity Road office in Halifax. The new ground source heat pump system is projected to eliminate up to 6,292,112 kWh of gas consumption and up to 1,164 tonnes of carbon emissions per year – equivalent…
Jodie Eaton, CEO of Shell Energy UK, says managing consumption effectively and embracing decarbonisation are becoming business-critical requirements. There are thousands of businesses across countless industries where energy plays a significant day-to-day operational role. However, amid soaring inflation, volatile prices and strict environmental legislation, the priorities of cost management and sustainability are quickly rising to the…
The UK Department for Transport’s (DfT) has appointed Mace to its £600 million STARThree Framework for rail and other transport projects as a provider of consultancy services. The framework encompasses a broad spectrum of services, including support for procurement and contracting, management of projects and programs, provision of technical guidance and strategic advisory. Its overarching…
European EV charging company Mer is assisting The Automobile Association as it decarbonises its business. The AA is switching selected patrol vans to EVs which are parked overnight at drivers’ homes and turned to Mer to install reliable and user-friendly home charging infrastructure that would be compatible with Mina Homecharge, a software platform which ensures…
Salix Finance has appointed Emma Clancy to succeed Annie Shepperd OBE as its new chief executive with responsibility for overseeing delivery of energy-efficient public buildings and social housing as part of the UK’s net zero agenda. Clancy will take the reins at the non-departmental public body which is wholly owned by the Government of the United…
Insurance and pensions services provider Phoenix Group has awarded a new contract to Mitie to deliver integrated facilities management (IFM) services across its UK sites. The five-year contract, worth £62m, will involve a range of specialist services, including Mitie’s ‘Connected Workspace’ and decarbonisation services. It marks the first time that all facilities management services for…
Ulf Nahrath, Shell’s VP of UK Energy Transition and Infrastructure, looks at the options available for decarbonising the industrial sector in the United Kingdom. Effectively decarbonising operations continues to dominate the conversation for the UK’s industrial sector, with net-zero ambitions widely considered a key corporate focus alongside competitively meeting production demands. Altough multiple options are…
Wates has become one of the first members of the newly formed National Homes Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) in a move that will help accelerate the social housing retrofit challenge. The Group will work together to drive social housing retrofit at scale, with a focus on growing a compliant supply chain, seeking innovation and advising on…
With Net Zero Week underway, David Lloyd, General Manager of Connected Energy Performance at Johnson Controls, says businesses must embrace greater ambition for the UK to meet its decarbonisation targets. Net Zero Week serves as a reminder that with 2030 on the horizon as time is ticking to cut carbon emissions by 45 per cent. To…
Made Smarter, the UK government-backed programme helping SME manufacturers in the furniture industry adopt technology, has launched a whitepaper on decarbonisation. Decarbonisation through Digitalisation: manufacturing made smarter and greener with technology is described as a ‘practical guide to industry’s biggest challenge and opportunity’. The free-to-download document from the government-backed and industry-led technology adoption programme, aims to simplify a…
Jodie Eaton, CEO of Shell Energy UK Limited, explains why efficiency, investment and decarbonisation remain key priorities for businesses nationwide as she predicts the future direction of the energy market. With major reforms introduced in April that will help to mitigate against market volatility, businesses should see this year as an opportunity to seize. While…
Veolia has been selected to decarbonisation projects at two acute hospitals for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of England’s largest teaching hospital trusts with some 2.8 million patients annually. Using a £22 million investment from the Salix Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) Phase 3a, and additional Trust funding, the Good Hope Hospital…
Three green hydrogen projects which Kimberly-Clark is developing with energy industry partners have won places on the UK Government’s Hydrogen Business Model Strategy (HBMS) shortlist. The scheme will kickstart the UK’s low carbon hydrogen economy by funding a first-round allocation of 250MW of electrolytic hydrogen projects across England, Scotland and Wales. Kimberly-Clark, the parent company…
Mace has announced new plans to save 10 million tonnes of carbon associated with buildings and infrastructure it delivers across the world. The new target comes months after the business announced it had secured a pipeline of carbon reduction works with clients that would exceed its original target of saving a million tonnes of carbon…
Finnish real estate company Antilooppi has launched POOL, the country’s first carbon-neutral workspace network, to meet growing demand for sustainable working environments. The company says it is determined to promote carbon-neutral construction and achieve tangible sustainability outcomes including Net Zero across its €1.4 billion portfolio of 35 office and retail properties offering rental space of…
Plans for a £25 million maritime centre of excellence focused on innovation, engineering, R&D, entrepreneurship and training at the heart of Peel L&P’s Wirral Waters development in North West England have been approved by Wirral Council. The announcement was made earlier today at MIPIM, the international property event in Cannes, France, by Richard Mawdsley, Peel…
TÜV SÜD UK has launched a Carbon Footprint Management service to help organisations reduce carbon emissions and ultimately become carbon neutral. The new service will calculate an organisation’s current carbon footprint, to understand the scale of the challenge and quantify the carbon impact. This can be conducted at an organisation or product level, and include…
Future business energy needs will be delivered by a wider portfolio of more sustainable, more circular, and more decentralised alternatives to current supplies, says Jodie Eaton, CEO of Shell Energy UK. As facilities managers continue to face market volatility and tightening budgets, corporate energy strategies must go far beyond simply ‘buying better’. Indeed, companies need…
Following comments by Lord Callanan in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Mike Foster, Chief Executive of UK energy trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), explains why he has written to the Minister requesting urgent clarification of the government’s policy on heat pumps. In his newspaper article, Lord Callanan, Minister at the Department for Energy Security…
Effective carbon capture will no longer be reserved for large-scale operations in heavy industries, after Ingersoll Rand and Aqualung partnered to design a modular, scalable, and instantly deployable carbon capture solution. The two companies have signed a Head of Agreement (HoA) contract underlining their commitment to harvesting more sustainable energy resources and are already on…
Jodie Eaton, CEO of Shell Energy, considers the grant funding programme for energy intensive sectors introduced by the UK’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). On 13 February, the United Kingdom government announced the recipients of more than £12m in grant funding to help energy intensive industries cut their carbon emissions and streamline energy costs. Awarded…
Institutional real estate fund and asset manager KanAm Grund Group has installed Meteoviva’s smart building control system at the 45-storey Trianon building in Frankfurt am Main under an innovative “Sustainable Buildings as a Service” model which requires no up-front investment. Two other buildings in the Group’s portfolio – Campus E in Munich and a property…
Alleima AB has joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) which promotes science-based corporate net zero targets. The global materials and industrial heating solutions provider is already a signatory to several international principles and…
Cushman & Wakefield has launched C&W Green Buildings, a proprietary digital software assessment tool that identifies custom decarbonization, retrofitting and cost savings opportunities for real estate investors and owners. Created through an exclusive partnership with CFP Green Buildings (CFP), a consultancy with a mission of making buildings and homes more sustainable, the tool offers Cushman…
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Community of Madrid (CAM) have agreed EIB financing of €554 million of financing and R&D loans for the line 11 Metro extension between Plaza Elíptica and Conde de Casal in Madrid. Separate agreements for project finance and the financing of research and development activities have been signed in Madrid…
Veolia has been awarded a £27 million energy management contract to upgrade the 459-bed Eastbourne District General Hospital, part of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. The contract, which extends to 2040, includes a multi-million pound construction project during 2023 that will deliver wide ranging energy upgrades and target carbon savings of 4,129 tonnes per year.…
Mitie’s most recent annual ESG report highlights the progress the facilities management outsourcer has made in incorporating 13 ambitious targets within its social value framework. According to the report, all 13 of the targets which were set in 2021 have been achieved or exceeded, spanning Mitie’s People, Environment, Supply Chain and Community pillars. Primary focuses…
A ‘digital twin’ which can model and test pathways to clean energy and net zero emissions in East Birmingham is being planned in a partnership between the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City Council and Siemens. A feasibility study has been commissioned which demonstrates how a virtual representation of the energy and transport infrastructure within East…
Johnson Controls has announced a collaboration with 3Degrees which helps organisations around the world achieve renewable energy and decarbonisation goals. The new collaboration aims to accelerate building owners’ and operators’ progress toward net zero by leveraging 3Degrees’ large-scale environmental commodity solutions, including Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) transactions, long-term renewable energy procurement, carbon credit portfolio management, transportation…
SSE Energy Solutions has partnered with The Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) in the United Kingdom to inform Universities on the best practices to go green and decarbonise. Energy professionals from SSE have provided certified Continuing Professional Development training across university campuses, on the topic of decarbonisation. The sessions, led by subject matter…
New guidance published by the Sustainable Facilities Management Index (SFMI) and BAM FM sets out how all carbon sources that fall outside an organization’s scope 1 and 2 boundary for emissions can achieve net zero carbon. According to their joint authors, the new guidelines transform the ability of building operators and managers to measure and…
Lifestyle brand The White Company has appointed Cloudfm to manage its 67 sites in the UK and Ireland under a three-year contract that will introduce an innovative approach to reducing carbon emissions. Cloudfm’s technology-driven approach will provide greater transparency throughout the process to improve cost-control and boost response times to improve the customer experience. In…
Russel Rhodes, Business Development Manager at Adler and Allan, considers the operating consequences for facilities managers of legislation limiting the use of red diesel in the United Kingdom. April 1st has been, and gone, and red diesel has been banned from use in certain sectors. However, this wasn’t a standalone event. It is part of…
Cormac Crossan, Commercial Real Estate Business Development Director at Schneider Electric UK&I, on why sustainability is a function of facilities management. Many of us have heard the staggering fact that the buildings and construction sector accounts for almost 40 per cent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. But did you know that up to 80 per…
Cloudfm has welcomed a House of Commons Environment Audit Committee (EAC) report that calls for whole-life carbon assessments of larger buildings. ‘Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction’ criticises the government for focusing too much on reporting energy efficiency and lacking the impetus to mandate reporting on embodied carbon emissions for the whole life…
Schneider Electric- and RIB have partnered with Building Transparency, a non-profit organization that has developed a free and open access tool targeted at reducing the impact of embodied carbon and making the AEC industry more efficient and sustainable.Following its recent acquisition of RIB, the partnership further strengthens Schneider Electric’s expertise in smart and carbon-free buildings. …
Tom Roche, Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance, comments on calls from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the government to halt building demolition in favour of refurbishment and repurposing as the UK transitions to a more sustainable built environment. With the built environment accounting for 38% of total energy-related global CO2 emissions,…
Johnson Controls has opened an OpenBlue Innovation Centre in its global headquarter’s building at One Albert Quay in Cork, Ireland to provide a future-ready built environment to showcase to customers. The new centre belongs to an international network of OpenBlue Innovation Centres which are pioneering new ways of providing smart, healthy and sustainable spaces for…
SSE Energy Solutions supported by Green TV will host a Mayors’ Leadership Group from 7th to 8th June with participants invited from across the UK and Ireland to discuss the actions needed to decarbonise cities and entire regions. Following the success of an inaugural summit last November, the two-day event at the Science and Industry…
Johnson Controls has acquired Asset Plus, a specialist provider of energy reduction and zero-carbon measures for the UK public sector. Delivering sustainability savings for multiple NHS organisations, local authorities, and educational establishments, Asset Plus provides strategic support and project management for energy efficiency measures and retrofitting across complex built environments. This includes low-carbon heating through…